Really? I just thought most people liked them for some reason I couldn't ever understand. I know some of my friends always liked them.
I though they filled the same space as paladins, you know a bunch of horrible people within a horrible organization, that most people are totally fine with.
It was mostly meant as a joke, though I have never heard or read anyone speak many friendly words of them. My experience is limited to my RL friends (only BG, not PnP) and this place though.
The Twinfold temple from rassad's quest is too monumental for a clandestine-built-in-the-middle-of-nowhere temple.
a theory: the original map was smaller. the temple model was finished and then upscaled for some reason (probably to look proportionate to the interior, which was i think designed later, as the writing was taking shape, or to be spacious enough for the big fight that happens on the bridge) that's why the textures look stretched and the bridge is unnaturally blocky
it's the worst area in the game, i loathe it. it's amateurishly done compared to the rest.
I like it. The bridge fight is cool. If you come at a low level you can retreat up the stairs (something I've done more than once). There is a side area to see (the animals and the tied up monks) and an Easter egg (Wilson).
Played a monk duo with Rasaad and did his quest right out of Irenicus' dungeon. The heretics and rasaad got slaughtered. I used those stairs to make wide arcing sweeps with the ring of energy, targeting inner members of the sharran group and dragging the beam of fire across the outsiders. They didn't last long.
I always buy that ring now. Not as good as the wand of fire or agannazar's scorcher, but very useful for non-spellcasters.
I'm not sure if this one is already in the thread somewhere - it probably is.
I think Goodberries is a fantastic level two druid spell, and I use it all the time.
I don't like to waste Cure Light Wounds spells if I'm down less than 8 hit points, and I don't like to go around wounded in between combats. Goodberries are also great for helping with realistic rest cycles for role-players. I think of healing resources in terms of total out-of-combat hit points available. Three Cure Light Wounds spells equals 24 out-of-combat hit points available to be restored. Each Goodberries spell raises that total by 5. I like to get the total hp available number as high as I can.
The great thing about Goodberries is that they store when you don't need them, and they don't spoil in BG like they do in IWD, so you can stock up on them.
(I consider healing potions to be in-combat restoratives, not to be wasted unless in combat, as opposed to my out-of-combat restoratives. Both are valuable resources when a role-player refuses to hit the rest button every five minutes.)
@BelgarathMTH Interesting. I rarely use druids in BG1, and in BG2 ring of regeneration obviates the need for minor healing like that, but you may be onto something. And really, the only other contenders for those spell slots are things like Resist Fire/Cold and Slow Poison, so it's not like a couple of those will be missed.
Unpopular opinion: Chaotic good as an alignment is way to overrated and romanticized by D&D players in general. Most people end up playing their chaotic good characters as lawful good or neutral good anyway without even being aware of it.
Lawful good is definitely the best alignment, but it is too frequently tagged to jerks in D&D media far too often (looking at you, Keldorn!).
Paladins are awesome...they are not jerks or hypocrites. They only seem to be portrayed that way by writers who dislike Paladins...and thus that leaks into players' play styles.
As a matter of fact, chaotic good characters are much more likely to be jerks (not caring about the rest of society) and hypocrites (bugger off...my heart's in the right place, even if my actions don't prove it) than lawful good characters (who think of others (society) before themselves and back up their words with dedicated action).
Kind of following up with what @Otherguy said, but I think it should be said more than once.
How to play alignments is largely a subjective matter anyway. There are objective elements to them, but nailing down a precise definition of any of them that applies to all cases is virtually impossible. <-- is this unpopular? I am not sure.
Each time I replay the games I find myself loathing the reputation system more and more.. It is way too simplistic to cover all manner of alignment roles. Not every chaotic good heroic deed would be popular with the nobility and not every villain would end up being treated like public enemy nr 1.. There are more subtle lawful evil ways to handle that. I mean damn with the amount of gold I accumulate during my adventures, I could probably hire/buy my own little piece of the city. Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion and I'm sure it's been discussed before.
But I also understand there is no way to fix this without completely overhauling the game. I blame it on short sightedness back when the games were designed during the 90's.
Here's hoping that when Beamdog does its own new game that they decouple reputation from alignment. So you can do good and evil things and you can do lawful and chaotic things and you can do things that raise or lower your reputation but that alone won't necessarily directly impact your alignment (say, causing a paladin to fall).
Calling a little ways back to what @thedamages said I completely agree that PoE did a few things better than the BG series and here they are or at least what I think they are.
Druids having a different spelltable to clerics and a shapeshift that is useful early on.
The reputation system. Each town or city having it's own thoughts on what your party is makes far more sense than having one reputation rating.
The skill system, giving us the choice of who does traps/locks/scrolls and the rest. This system makes it far easier to have a more varied party as you don't always need to bring a thief.
Fighters having abilities besides hit the thing and barbarians having abilities besides hit the thing angrily.
Ciphers
Durance, no character in any of the BG games is as interesting as Durance. I personally love to hate the guy, as he is a cruel, bigoted douchebag but hell the writing is so good that I can't not have him around.
Every new Charname should start out with a reputation of 10, regardless of alignment. Nobody outside Candlekeep will know whether you are good or evil, lawful or chaotic. Same goes for when you leave Château Irenicus.
I'm not sure if this one is already in the thread somewhere - it probably is.
I think Goodberries is a fantastic level two druid spell, and I use it all the time.
I don't like to waste Cure Light Wounds spells if I'm down less than 8 hit points, and I don't like to go around wounded in between combats. Goodberries are also great for helping with realistic rest cycles for role-players. I think of healing resources in terms of total out-of-combat hit points available. Three Cure Light Wounds spells equals 24 out-of-combat hit points available to be restored. Each Goodberries spell raises that total by 5. I like to get the total hp available number as high as I can.
The great thing about Goodberries is that they store when you don't need them, and they don't spoil in BG like they do in IWD, so you can stock up on them.
(I consider healing potions to be in-combat restoratives, not to be wasted unless in combat, as opposed to my out-of-combat restoratives. Both are valuable resources when a role-player refuses to hit the rest button every five minutes.)
Once I played the game with a small bongo drum and a green wig made from a mop. Each time Jaheira cast the goodberry spell I would accompany her with great raucous howling. OMG!!! Made me wish for a Fred Flintstone style toga-skin!! Almost passed out from laughing.
Calling a little ways back to what @thedamages said I completely agree that PoE did a few things better than the BG series and here they are or at least what I think they are.
Druids having a different spelltable to clerics and a shapeshift that is useful early on.
The reputation system. Each town or city having it's own thoughts on what your party is makes far more sense than having one reputation rating.
The skill system, giving us the choice of who does traps/locks/scrolls and the rest. This system makes it far easier to have a more varied party as you don't always need to bring a thief.
Fighters having abilities besides hit the thing and barbarians having abilities besides hit the thing angrily.
Ciphers
Durance, no character in any of the BG games is as interesting as Durance. I personally love to hate the guy, as he is a cruel, bigoted douchebag but hell the writing is so good that I can't not have him around.
This ^ I also really like that all attributes were at least marginally useful for everyone. There wasn't a concrete dump stat, so there is less emphasis on min max (at least below path of damned difficulty). Attributes having a tangible effect on dialogue is also nice, having high perception allows you to notice small details, intelligence for logic, etc.
47. The most stupid thing Irenicus ever did was not buying casting license in Alkhatla. I mean, did he *really* need those 10 000 gold pieces so badly? 48. Slayer is useful even in ToB (in unmodded game, obviously), and slaughtering those orcs in Watcher's Keep during Endurance Trial as Slayer is so pleasant, when you roleplay as bad guy. 49. It's not cheesy to use traps - the point of traps is to have unfair advantage, to use knowledge of terrain, and so on. They are overpowered, by they are not cheesy. Btw, I'd rather have them more diverse (trap that blinds anyone to stands on it, slowing trap, holding trap, and so on), and being triggered also by party members; and it would be cool for enemy thieves to use them.
Comments
*Throws mental punch of rage at @thedamages opinion... headbutts laptop causing monetary damage*
War solves nothing!
*Calls solicitor*
I love paladins.
Elminster as described in the books is quite likeable but too powerful to relate to.
Drizzt works as a character, it's the Drizzt wannabes that makes me want to cry.
LG is by far the best alignment! Leave being Batman to Batman.
It'a a question. "Yes" is an answer.
the original map was smaller. the temple model was finished and then upscaled for some reason (probably to look proportionate to the interior, which was i think designed later, as the writing was taking shape, or to be spacious enough for the big fight that happens on the bridge)
that's why the textures look stretched and the bridge is unnaturally blocky
it's the worst area in the game, i loathe it. it's amateurishly done compared to the rest.
I always buy that ring now. Not as good as the wand of fire or agannazar's scorcher, but very useful for non-spellcasters.
I think Goodberries is a fantastic level two druid spell, and I use it all the time.
I don't like to waste Cure Light Wounds spells if I'm down less than 8 hit points, and I don't like to go around wounded in between combats. Goodberries are also great for helping with realistic rest cycles for role-players. I think of healing resources in terms of total out-of-combat hit points available. Three Cure Light Wounds spells equals 24 out-of-combat hit points available to be restored. Each Goodberries spell raises that total by 5. I like to get the total hp available number as high as I can.
The great thing about Goodberries is that they store when you don't need them, and they don't spoil in BG like they do in IWD, so you can stock up on them.
(I consider healing potions to be in-combat restoratives, not to be wasted unless in combat, as opposed to my out-of-combat restoratives. Both are valuable resources when a role-player refuses to hit the rest button every five minutes.)
Chaotic good as an alignment is way to overrated and romanticized by D&D players in general. Most people end up playing their chaotic good characters as lawful good or neutral good anyway without even being aware of it.
Lawful good is definitely the best alignment, but it is too frequently tagged to jerks in D&D media far too often (looking at you, Keldorn!).
Paladins are awesome...they are not jerks or hypocrites. They only seem to be portrayed that way by writers who dislike Paladins...and thus that leaks into players' play styles.
As a matter of fact, chaotic good characters are much more likely to be jerks (not caring about the rest of society) and hypocrites (bugger off...my heart's in the right place, even if my actions don't prove it) than lawful good characters (who think of others (society) before themselves and back up their words with dedicated action).
Kind of following up with what @Otherguy said, but I think it should be said more than once.
How to play alignments is largely a subjective matter anyway. There are objective elements to them, but nailing down a precise definition of any of them that applies to all cases is virtually impossible. <-- is this unpopular? I am not sure.
But I also understand there is no way to fix this without completely overhauling the game. I blame it on short sightedness back when the games were designed during the 90's.
Druids having a different spelltable to clerics and a shapeshift that is useful early on.
The reputation system. Each town or city having it's own thoughts on what your party is makes far more sense than having one reputation rating.
The skill system, giving us the choice of who does traps/locks/scrolls and the rest. This system makes it far easier to have a more varied party as you don't always need to bring a thief.
Fighters having abilities besides hit the thing and barbarians having abilities besides hit the thing angrily.
Ciphers
Durance, no character in any of the BG games is as interesting as Durance. I personally love to hate the guy, as he is a cruel, bigoted douchebag but hell the writing is so good that I can't not have him around.
48. Slayer is useful even in ToB (in unmodded game, obviously), and slaughtering those orcs in Watcher's Keep during Endurance Trial as Slayer is so pleasant, when you roleplay as bad guy.
49. It's not cheesy to use traps - the point of traps is to have unfair advantage, to use knowledge of terrain, and so on. They are overpowered, by they are not cheesy.
Btw, I'd rather have them more diverse (trap that blinds anyone to stands on it, slowing trap, holding trap, and so on), and being triggered also by party members; and it would be cool for enemy thieves to use them.